How the Videogame Industry Shot Itself In the Joystick--and Why the Wii Has Stopped the Bleeding

[mike_intellivision]

Just some quick historical perspective.

Any market can crash -- video games did it pre-NES in 1983-84.
The only company today that can draw back to that point is Activision.
(There was an Atari, but it is not today's Atari)..

There does seem to be a bias on non-traditional games -- which include a lot of Wii games. Mario & Sonic -- which was cited in the article -- has a Gamerankings score of 71. Not bad, except when you consider it was honoted at top Wii game at Lipzig earlier this year.

I don't want to say there is a bias against Wii games because (a) SMG is trying to become the highest rate game of all time and (b) GHIII for Wii has a higher rating than its 360 and PS3 couterparts, despite its reported audio problems.

Still, it seems if a game is not something that the reviewer is used to playing or does not like that genre -- its toast when the review comes in.

I can also say that if you are looking for more of a family playing experience, those mid-rated games are often great fun and much better for quick fixes. These include the various mini-games and classic game collecitons -- which becuase they don't have full stories and sometimes are not as pretty as the other titles tend to rated lower by reviewers but still sell.

Finally, as far as broadening the demographic of players -- I agree that it is games and not controllers. That being said, controllers can scare off people. That being said, an original Xbox controller has two analog sticks, a D-pad, six game buttons, two system buttons and two triggers. A Wii controller and numchuck has an analong stick, a D-pad, two triggers, six game buttons, and two system buttons spread out over two controllers which you also have to move. Which is more complex ?

Mike from Morgantown